If you grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau you’ll know that hitting Kelly Tarlton’s aquarium was the stuff of gold stars and good behaviour.
A little girl, decked out in a drippy mermaid princess costume, has gone viral for perfectly encapsulating the pre-trip excitement using Te Reo. She was part of a kōhanga reo field trip to Kelly Tarlton’s and showed off her knowledge of the language and of the animals she could see.
When asked which ones would be there, she replied: “Mako (shark), me a manaia (seahorse), me a pāpaka (crab), me a tepetepe hoki (and jellyfish too)... me a tohorā! (and a whale!)”
How impressive is that? And we love to see her dreaming big (literally) with the mention of the whale (surely Kelly Tarlton's can get one in their aquarium, just for her).
Commenters love what they’re seeing from the little one, with two people calling the conversation “beautiful” and “Ātaahua”, and a third simply saying “Amen.”
Earlier this year, Earlier this year, another tamariki went viral for nailing their mihi.
Posted to her māmā Tina’s TikTok account, little Naia finished with a wiri and a cheeky little grin, leaving all of us with the warmest of fuzzies,
“Encourage our rangatahi to korero Te Reo 🙏,” Tina wrote alongside the clip.
In 2023, the cutest viral video award went to a mother and their daughter for their adorable cover of a classic Te Reo waiata.
Footage of the four-year-old singing ‘Tōku reo tōku ohooho' has been viewed over half a million times on TikTok and gained over 70k likes.
“We’re both guessing the lyrics to that song,” the mother wrote in the caption. “But I’m sure I’m right.”
Kia kaha te reo Māori!
